« We in the Congress are convinced that young people’s active participation in civic life, particularly at the local level, is a way of ensuring social cohesion,» Jean-Claude Frécon, President of the Congress, emphasised in an address to the young local leaders of Ukraine at the conference entitled « Fostering Ukraine’s democratic development: support for young local leaders » on 3 November 2014 in Strasbourg. He drew attention to the position of the Congress on the crisis in Ukraine and welcomed the positive climate of the elections on 25 May 2014, as well as the Ukrainian Parliament’s ratification of the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government. « Following these elections, we are organising a workshop on leadership for the freshly elected mayors to assist change. We propose that they pool good practices concerning the manner of exercising their authority and responsibilities through exchanges with their counterparts from Ukraine or from other regions of Europe,» said the President of the Congress. He also presented the main Congress co-operation activities with Ukraine relating to the furtherance of local and regional democracy.